Throughout October we’re celebrating amazing children of foster carers and Supported Lodgings carers and the role they play in fostering households. We asked the son of a Supported Lodgings carer what it's like.

What is Supported Lodgings?

“Supported Lodgings is where you welcome a young person aged eighteen to twenty-one into your house, and the majority of the time they are care leavers or asylum seekers from other counties.”

Our household

“I live with my Mum and have done so my whole life, but we’ve also always had at least one lodger living with us too. This has given me a lot of experience living with people who aren’t in our family, but Supported Lodgings is a bit different and has been a very exciting new experience for our family.”

Things I like about Supported Lodgings

“I really like Supported Lodgings because it’s like welcoming a new family member into your home. You don’t have to provide as much help as you do with normal foster caring, but also you spend more time with the young people than you do with ordinary lodgers. It’s been amazing meeting people, whether that’s the young person or their friends. I also think I’ve learnt a lot from my Mum through Supported Lodgings, like things about foster caring and also about other people.”

What's tricky?

“Sometimes it’s a bit hard listening to the stories of the young people, and their life experiences before they start living with us. It’s also hard sometimes having to share my space with new people initially, but once you get to know them better it’s okay.”

Favourite memories

“I have a lot of good memories from the last couple of years doing Supported Lodgings, but I think one of my favourite overall has to be when me, my Mum, and our Supported Lodgings person all went up to London to watch a play. It was an amazing day out and we all had such a good time!”

FCOC group

“I’m part of the local Foster Carer’s Own Children (FCOC) group which is a group for the birth children and adopted children of foster carers to go out places and spend time with other people with similar experiences. We have amazing days out - for example we’ve been to laser tag loads in the colder months and last summer we went on a water sports day. It’s amazing talking to other FCOC about their experiences, and sometimes it’s just a nice escape if lots is happening at home.”

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To find out more about Supported Lodgings visit our Supported Lodgings page